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Originally Posted by doc2009
I have had the tivo for couple of months now and although it has benefits, i also find it very frustrating.
The search feature in on demand, is slow, very slow. Music on demand search is even slower as you cannot use mobile phone type texting via your remote control, you have to use up, down, left right through a block of letters or navigate alphabetically through so many screens you lose the will to live. They have actually made the music on demand useless as you take ages to find a video then are forced to watch an advert before your song starts. You tube is worthless, again it is so slow to search, it also does not allow access to playlists or favourites that you have saved via your pc so again they (or google) have taken a great service and made it unusable. It regularly loses signal and tells you to reboot or move up or down a channel to get a fix. The on demand service allows you to seach for programmes, e.g. you type in true blood, it will tell you that 3 series exist, you assume this means that you have three series to watch at your leisure but no, when you click to start watching, you can get a brief written synopsis of each episode in each season but only season 3 episode 7 is available to actually watch, this frustrated me more than anything else as there are a few series i fancied watching only to find that despite listing anything up to 6 series of a show, in some instances only a couple of episodes were available to watch. There is a dedicated tivo forum that lists loads of other complaints about reminders, padding etc but those issues havent bothered me. As a bog standard pvr it is OK, as the future of television, no way, that is a long way and many firmware upgrades off. If i was choosing now, i would not pay the extra for it albeit it is only £3 pounds, i think it has been rushed and current users are testing a beta system.
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Using the TiVo's own search function, which will return results from all sources including on demand, is much quicker.
If you're regularly rebooting because of no signal then you have a problem and should contact Virgin to sort it out. I don't experience this, but I wouldn't put up with it either.
I don't use music on demand, so can't comment, but I agree that the new YouTube app is as close to unsuable as you're going to get. I assume this is Google's fault, but the good news is that Virgin have listened to their customers, and the old app is still accessible.
As for thinking that the results returned on the search function are all available to watch on demand, erm, well, that should really only have caught you out once, if at all?!? Either way, I actually really value the IMDB style info available on each show, and if something isn't available OD then it's very easy to set up a wishlist from there.
It IS the future of television, in my opinion. Apple are rumoured to be bringing out a connected TV next year or maybe in early 2013, YouView is due to launch in the first half of 2012. Both will be connected allowing you access to on demand and streaming services. In other words they'll do what TiVo is already capable of AND has been in this country for over a year now, but have fewer linear channels and no wishlists and suggestions. TiVo is already streets ahead of things that haven't even been launched yet. Yes, there are niggles, but it really is very good, and to hear people go on about how they wouldn't have left V+ for it if they'd known just amazes me.
To the OP, you'll enjoy TiVo IF you're prepared to give up a bit of control and let it do its own thing. Its not V+, it doesn't do some of the things that V+ does, but then the idea behind it is that you watch what you want, when you want. You won't have reminders, for example, but then everything you like should be recorded and, therefore, watchable from MyShows. Small attitude adjustments to the way you watch your telly are required, but if you're prepared to make them you'll understand why some of the features are different and soon consider TiVo to be the very, very, best STB available.